Alta Mira was birthed in Albany, NY on a sunny, summer afternoon in 2004 when a mutual friend introduced a scarved and sandaled Michon-Huneau to three quiet, brooding musicians – namely, one Krebs and two Sagehorns’ who were, at the time, rehearsing several upbeat ditties which would thereafter become Alta Mira’s first handful of songs. Upon playing two of his solo songs on a beat-up acoustic, Michon-Huneau was inducted into the band’s lineup. Thereafter known as Milo, they played small coffee shops and parking lots, mainly on acoustic instruments, until, like Dylan, they ‘went electric,’ beginning to make their rounds at local clubs and bars. Milo changed their unsightly name to Alta Mira in 2006 and began developing their distinct style, opening for such national acts as The Join, Lisa Germano, The Felice Brothers, U-Melt, She Wants Revenge, and Steel Train.

A mixture of indie, progressive, alternative, and art rock, Ata Mira was described by Brian Hurley of Radio Exile as calling pointedly on the heyday of solid rock and roll, whether one finds that in the pulsing art pretension of Talking Heads, the grunge sensibilities and harmonizing of Jerry Cantrell, the crooning sensitivity of Jeff Buckley, or the modest sprinkling of ambition found in The Bends era Radiohead. The Metroland says Alta Mira creates a sound that fuses anthemic pop-rock to ornate, expansive arrangements, a la XTC, ’90s Radiohead, or some of Tool’s early stuff. They’re handy with a time signature shift, they can rock a waltz with the best of ‘em, and singer Joe Michon-Huneau has a serious set of pipes.

Alta Mira has been turning ears throughout the Northeast. After recording at Barefoot Studios in Massachusetts, they released The Fables and Fabrications EP, in 2007 with the support of Indian Ledge Records?an Albany-based record label who scooped up the talented quartet for its initial launch. Press for Alta Mira has been nothing short of flattering. In 2007, Alta Mira earned Metroland?s ‘Best New Band’ category and have garnered the praise of Albany’s Times Union, Schenectady’s Daily Gazette and Hudson Valley’s Chronogram magazine, as well as various online reviews from pages such as JamBase.com and RadioExile.com. Having returned to Barefoot Studios, Alta Mira recently finished recording their first full-length album. Mixed by Grammy Award winning studio engineer Corin Nelsen and mastered by world renowned Bob Ludwig, Alta Mira’s self-titled debut is set to be released early this winter.

Mike Guzzo

One Response

Regarding the last sentence in the Event Details, Alta Mira’s full length epynomous recording was officialy released at the Dec. 5th 2009 “Alta Mira CD Release Experiment”. The disc’s available at their shows and at http://www.indianledgerecords.com/altamira, among other webby world locations.

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